Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna or S.M. Krishna as he is popularly known is the presnt Governor of the state Maharashtra of India, who has also been served as the Chief Minister of the Southern state of Karnataka from October 1999 to May 2004. He was one of the highly educated Chief Ministers of Karnataka. He was born in 1932 to father S.C. Mallaiah. S.M.Krishna graduated in Arts from Maharaja`s College, Mysore and received his Law degree from Government Law College, Bangalore. After that he went to United States to study and studied at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and George Washington University, Washington D.C. He was a Fulbright Scholar. On April 29, 1964, he married Prema and the couple has two daughters. He is by profession Attorney-At-Law.

After coming back in India, he joined Renukacharya Law College, Bangalore as a Professor of International Law. In 1962, Mr. Krishna was nominated to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. In 1968, he made his first appearance in Parliament and became a Member of the fourth Lok Sabha. S.M.Krishna was elected to the fifth Lok Sabha. But he favored to return to State Politics when he was elected to the Legislative Council in the year 1972. He was inducted as Minister for Commerce, Industries and Parliamentary Affairs. He held the charge till 1977. He returned to Lok Sabha, in 1980, and was made Minister of State for Industry during 1983-84, and Minister of State for Finance during 1984-85.

In 1989, he became the Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly. This post he held till 1992. In the year 1992, he became the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka. He was elected to Rajya Sabha in 1996 and till October 1999, he was its member. Making Bangalore investor friendly, he has contributed a lot. The partnership between the government and private sector, was mainly encouraged by him. The commencement of the Bangalore Action Task Force (BATF) is particular in that sense during his tenureship as the chief minister of the state. Many initiatives are introduced by him in oreder to encourage investment in the Information Technology and BPO/ITES sectors. He is considered to be a very capable Chief Minister and an efficient administrator of the state of Karnataka. As Chief Minister of the state he gave prime importance to the infrastructure.

The posts which he held throughout his career are:

Member, Praja Socialist Party (formerly)

Member of 3rd Karnataka Legislative Assembly 1962-67

Member, Indian Parliamentary Delegation to Commonwealth

Parliamentary Conference, New Zealand, 1965

Member, 4th Lok Sabha 1968-70

Member, 5th Lok Sabha 1971-72

Member, Karnataka Legislative Council 1972-77

Minister for Commerce, Industries & Parliamentary Affairs,

Government of Karnataka 1972-77

Member, Indian Delegation to the United Nations, 1982

Union Minister of State for Industry during 1983-84

Union Minister of State for Finance during 1984-85

Member, 9th Karnataka Legislative Assembly 1989-94

Speaker, Karnataka Legislative Assembly 1989-92

Delegate to Commonwealth Parliamentary Seminar at West Minster, U.K. in March 1990

Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka 1992-94

Member, Rajya Sabha from April 1996 to October 1999.

Chief Minister of Karnataka from 11th October 1999 to 20th May 2004.

President KPCC from February 1999 to June 2000.

Governor of Maharashtra since 6th December 2004

He has also been associated with the World University Service. S.M.Krishna is an excessively desirous sportsperson and plays tennis regularly.